Rumors
by BombchuGirl
Summary: Heard around Hyrule: "I heard that Princess Zelda was going to marry the leader of the shadows so she could be the Queen of the shadows and the light." "Well, I heard she fought the Hero of Twilight himself because she didn't want him to save Hyrule!" There is always little truth in every lie. Post TP, AU, ZELINK.
1. Prologue

Rumors

 _Prologue_

Zelda awoke to the feeling of a calloused hand patting the side of her face. The hand moved from her face to jostle her shoulder for a bit before returning to pat at her face again. She tried to open her eyes to see who had woke her but found that she couldn't. She reached up with her hands to feel about her eyes, but she couldn't move her hands either. Zelda could tell that her hands weren't bound, because she could feel both of her arms resting at her sides. Holding tightly onto her panic, she called out to whoever had woken her up. But her lips did not form the words and not so much as hum came out.

Feeling her hold on her anxiety slipping, Zelda's mind whirled in terror. Her thoughts, like murky water that had been disturbed, clouded and confused her mind. _What happened to me?_ _Why isn't my body responding to me? Am I dead? This has to be a nightmare._ _If only I could pinch myself to find out for sure_.

Zelda had never known anything more terrifying than to be able to feel what was going on with your body, but not be able to make it do what you wanted it to.

She startled out of her swirling thoughts as she again felt a hand patting her face, this time a little rougher than before. "Come on, come on." The voice of a man sounded above her, holding notes of worry, impatience, and hope.

 _So a man brought me here… Wherever I am_.

Zelda heard the man launch himself off of the ground then the sound of hurried footsteps fading as he moved away from her side. The smell of grass and dirt lingered in his wake.

She was outside. But where? Doing what she should have done when she first figured out that she couldn't move, Zelda did a mental scan of her body. Aches and pains that hadn't been apparent in her fog of panic lit up at her direct attention. She began to feel as though she had been drug behind a horse.

 _Who knows, maybe_ that's _how I got here_.

Reining in tightly on her emotions, Zelda focused on trying to remember what had happened.

She remembered, the Twilight. She remembered Zant invading the royal castle two days before her coronation. She remembered being kept in a mouldering tower. They hadn't even bothered locking the door because Zant had something far more effective than keys keeping her there.

She remembered being visited by Midna. The chosen hero in the form of a scraggy black wolf.

Zelda's mind snagged on Midna, and she remembered the day that the black wolf had brought the dying imp to her. _That's right._ Zelda thought. She had poured her spirit into Midna in order to save her.

The real Twilight Princess.

Thinking of Midna opened up a new store of memories for Zelda. The feeling of the wind rushing past her face as she rode on the back of a large black wolf. Hiding from the light in the lanky shadow of a boy that had over time become a man. The conflicting feelings of joy and despair when evening came. And underneath it all, a righteous anger that colored every thought and action.

Zelda realized that these weren't her memories. But at the same time they were.

Zelda's spirit had remembered being in Midna's body. Midna had returned her spirit it to her.

 _Maybe that's why I can't move._ Zelda thought. _I'm used to being in Midna's body._

Before Zelda could think more on the implications her memories had brought to the surface, the sound of something breaking reached her ears, bringing her back into the present moment. The man let out a blistering curse involving goats and was muttering hotly as he jogged back to Zelda's side.

His hands were back again as one slid itself under her back and levered her up into a sitting position. Zelda's body protested at being hoisted up and she yelped in pain, though no sound came out.

 _It feels like I've been through a battle._

Zelda heard the pop of a cork being released and then felt the smooth glass lip of a bottle being pressed against her mouth. The slightly gelatinous liquid filled her mouth and the man lightly pinched Zelda's nose to get her body to swallow the contents. It was surprisingly spicy but with a vile aftertaste. Zelda flinched mentally at the taste and was surprised when her body trembled with reaction. Her eyelids fluttered then snapped open to the feral blue eyed gaze of her definite rescuer. His teeth were clenched around a bottle stopper and the lines between his eyes were furrowed in an intense emotion that Zelda couldn't name. The fierceness of his gaze faded into a sharp relief, but the feral-ness remained just underneath. Even though she had never personally seen him in his human form before, Zelda recognized him immediately from the memories she had kept from her time in Midna's body.

Link of Ordonia nodded his head towards the bottle to remind Zelda to keep drinking.

He continued to gently hold the bottle to her mouth and shifted his body to better hold her up as she drank the rest of the foul contents. When it had all been drained he took the cork from his mouth and inserted it back into the bottle while he waited for Zelda to get her bearings.

Zelda knew the exact moment the rest of her body responded to the potion. It felt as if she had a thousand bees swarming under her skin. She recognized it for what it was. Her soul trying bind itself back into her body. It had never been this bad. She could feel her spirit writhing within her body, loathe to make contact with what it touched. Like a cup that she had once found forgotten behind the drapes of her room, it seemed as if her body had mildewed from being left alone.

 _How long was I out of my body? The spells I placed on it before I transferred my soul to Midna should have kept it safe._

Zelda flinched as her soul stopped its fighting and embedded itself on something sharp. Again and again her soul punctured itself on sharp shards left within her soul space. This was no ordinary case of inner mold.

In a flash of clarity she knew why.

Something or someone had been inside her body beside her.

And they had left slivers of themselves behind.

Her spirit finished stitching itself to its rightful place and Zelda became fully immersed in all parts of herself conjoined together. It was overwhelming, amazing and excruciating. As she lay there panting from exertion, Link shifted awkwardly behind her and Zelda became aware that he had been holding her up the whole time her spirit had stitched itself back into her body. She also became aware of the overwhelming need to evacuate her stomach. Zelda pushed herself off of Link but could only crawl a couple of feet before she started heaving a blue colored potion up into the grass.

When her stomach had emptied itself of its contents Zelda delicately wiped her mouth with the back of her gloved hand and made to push herself up from the ground. Link appeared by her side and offered a hand up. Zelda gave him a grateful look and allowed him to pull her up on shaky legs. "Thank you."

Giving herself a moment to get her bearings Zelda scanned the distant horizon to find the landmark all Hylians used to figure out their whereabouts. There it was smoking in the distance; Death Mountain. The craggy mountain range continued into the greater part of Hyrule Field before turning into rocky hills and fields. Having determined her location, Zelda looked around puzzled. Was the battle over with Ganondorf? She glanced over at Link to see him approaching a huge brown horse grazing nearby.

"What happened?" Zelda's voice was rusty with disuse and pain. He paused before pulling two more bottles of potion from his saddlebag. Her eyes met his as he walked back towards her and for the first time she noticed the physical state that he was in. His clothes were ripped and bloody. On his face, a large nasty looking scrape tore across his cheek and he limped favoring his left leg.

Zelda judged from the angle and location of his injuries he had been thrown at great speed and landed hard on the left side of his body. She watched as he pulled the stopper out of another bottle of blue potion and tossed it back. His scrape reversed itself on his face, knitting up and healing at ten times the normal only thing to tell that there had been an injury was the slightly congealed blood left behind on his cheek. He looked to be in perfect health if one didn't notice the blood caked into his clothes and shadows that lay in his eyes.

Link's shoulders tensed and he seemed to be weighing what he was about to say.

"Ganondorf possessed your body and used you to attack us. Your body hurts because I repelled your own light attacks against you to weaken Ganondorf's dark force. Also, because Midna used the fused shadows to grasp the shadow of his presence and tear it from your body." Link rubbed a hand across the light stubble on his face and grimaced.

"We barely defeated his beast form and thought that would be it. Midna returned your spirit back to your body but- you didn't wake up. I was on the verge of reviving you with some potion when Ganondorf's spirit resurrected out of nowhere. Before I could go for my sword, Midna transported us out here with the power of the fused shadows. She-"

Link's fingers whitened on the remaining bottle he held.

"She fights Ganondorf alone. "

The weight of his words settled on Zelda and her heart clenched painfully. She turned around towards the castle, wishing with all her being that her soul still resided with Midna to lend her strength. Link held out another bottle of blue potion. "Drink this. Although you have no memory of it your body has been through a battle. I had already forced one potion in you before I tried the blue potion. You really had us -I mean me- worried."

Zelda schooled her face as she took a nasty sip from the potion. Already, the aches that the first potion hadn't taken care of were fading. She was just about to ask him how long it had taken her to wake up when Hyrule Castle exploded with a deafening crash. Link's horse gave a startled whinny and reared in surprise. Zelda gazed in horror at the decimation before her, her heart beating hard in her chest. Before she could grasp the fullness of the situation, Link had calmed his horse, grabbed her wrist and pulled her toward back towards his mount. Just as his hands closed around her waist to lift her onto the nervous animal's back he paused, as if listening to something and jerked his head around to the castle. His hands tightened painfully on her waist and Zelda peered behind him to see what he was looking at.

A breeze blew past Zelda raising the hairs on the back of her neck. It continued towards the castle disrupting the clouds of dust rolling off the collapsed structure and bringing into view a dark figure sitting on horseback.

Ganondorf.

He held his arm aloft, grasping what appeared to be Midna's helmet of fused shadow. Link's sharp intake of breath mimicked her own as Midna's helmet broke into pieces and Ganondorf tossed it to the ground. A sharp whinny echoed over the hills as Ganondorf unsheathed his sword and spurred his mounts sides. Behind him a ghostly horde of warriors rose up to follow their dark master into battle.

By the time Link had unsheathed his sword and put himself in front of Zelda, Ganondorf was more than three quarters of the way to them. The thunder of hooves grew closer and Zelda, not even conscious of her movements placed one hand on Link's shoulder and the other on the horse behind her and whispered a quick prayer.

The last thing she saw was Ganondorf's sword flashing wickedly down to intercept them.

Then light enveloped them.


	2. Chapter One

Chapter 1

 _Two weeks later_

Zelda chewed her lip as she studied the hard-gotten plans of Castletown laid out before her. By the looks of what Ashei had roughly sketched out, only about a third of buildings in Castletown remained standing. On top of that, monsters still lurked in the ruined town, causing the rebuilding efforts to move at a snail's pace. Thankfully, help from Kakariko Village's refugees had arrived with their battered wagons earlier in the morning.

The refugees arriving meant that Link had made it to Kakariko Village with the news of Castletown being rebuilt. A few of them said they had seen him hiking up Death Mountain, but none of them knew of whether or not the Gorons would be arriving after them. Link had left just three days ago to request the Gorons aid in Zelda's stead. Zelda had been willing to travel with Link herself- she needed the Gorons desperately since her own labor force lacked the proper tools to rebuild. No one could break up rubble as efficiently as the Gorons. But the rest of the Resistance - Link included - had decided it would not be a good idea for her to leave Castletown undefended during this vulnerable time .Lost in her thoughts, Zelda jumped when she heard a sharp voice ring out from behind her.

"This will not do! Please, your Highness!" came Chancellor Cole's voice. "Won't you let us relocate you safely to Kakariko Village where the other women remain? Our top most priority is to have you safely looked after."

Reaching her impromptu table, the Chancellor splayed his hands on top of the plans and leaned towards Zelda. His proximity, partnered with his cloying cologne forced her to back up and wrinkle her nose. The battered table that had just been dug out of the ruins a day before rocked unevenly under his hands, dislodging one of the stones that had been holding down an edge of the paper.

Zelda, annoyed, straightened and tried not show that he surprised her.

Even though it was early in the day, the chancellor's hair was slicked smoothly into place and everything about him looked as if he had come straight out of Chudley's Fine Goods and Fancy Trinkets Emporium. The velvet green of Cole's suit shone dully in the morning light and a ruby pendant as big as a baby's fist pinned his starched white collar into place. Even his mustache looked to be waxed.

Zelda, now under the scrutiny of his beady eyes, realized how dingy she must look.

She was thankful she wasn't wearing her dress at least. After the first couple of days of dragging her royal gown through the grass and the mud, Zelda realized it was not the best outfit to wear when setting up a refugee camp in the middle of Hyrule field. She owned several changes of clothes in varying degrees of practicality, but all those clothes lay in a trunk. A trunk that was buried underneath the rubble of the collapsed part of the castle. Zelda had resigned herself to continue wearing her torn and mud spattered gown until she could find clothes elsewhere, but thankfully Telma had been two steps ahead of her.

A week ago, when Zelda had sopped into her tent after a grueling day in the rain and mud, she found the big boned woman waiting for her with a blanket and a steaming cup of tea. Faster than she could have imagined possible, Zelda was peeled out of her wet dress and bundled into a blanket. The older woman then deftly hung Zelda's gown on a makeshift line she had stretched out in the interior of the tent.

Inside the tent, the severity of the storm lessened to an almost pleasant level now that Zelda was out of her wet clothes and sipping a cup of rain pattered down the sides of the dark green tent and the wind made the fabric flap tautly against the pegs holding it in place. Zelda sighed and felt her eyes drooping. Glancing over at her sleeping pallet she saw with surprise that clothing had been laid out on top of it.

Laid out on her sleeping pallet was a pair of tan pants - looking a little bit worn about the knees, but small enough to fit her - a small pair of gloves that would help prevent her from getting blisters, and a pair of dark brown leather boots that looked as if they might be a little big.

"Ashei had a spare pair of pants and gloves in her rucksack, and don't worry about the boots honey, they weren't doing anybody any good where I found them." Telma said.

Zelda felt a sickening certainty that Telma had pulled the boots off of a body, but she didn't get an opportunity to ask because the older woman continued speaking: "Besides, those doilies you have for slippers are worn clean through."

Telma was right about that. Her slippers had been made for indoor use in the castle, and four days out on the rough, wet terrain of Hyrule field had turned them into mud-covered pieces of fabric with holes worn through the thin soles. Zelda was practical enough to see that anything, even if it had been pulled off of a body, would be better than getting sick wearing threadbare shoes.

Relieved that she wouldn't have to put on her gown to work in tomorrow, she thanked Telma for her generosity and let herself look over the clothes on her pallet again. "Telma? What am I going to do about a shirt?" she asked when she noticed that particular piece of clothing missing.

"I was wondering when you were going to catch that." Telma winked.

"Don't you worry about that honey, we'll take care of a shirt in the morning." She knowingly nodded her head at Zelda's gown dripping on the ground of the tent.

The next morning, Telma had come up with the only pair of scissors to be found in the camp, taken the dry dress off the line, and cut it in half at the waist.

Zelda now resisted the temptation to pull at the frayed hem of her gown-made-shirt in case that drew Cole's eyes to it. Thankfully, she still wore her crown and the Hylian royal banner hanging from a chain around her waist, although it was only through force of habit that she put these on every morning. Zelda would've much rather put her crown aside since all it seemed to do was gather sweat. She probably would've been better off leaving the Hylian banner in her tent as well. Dirt and rips decorated the length of it and it fluttered like a tattered flag in the slight breeze. She was beginning to regret meeting up with Cole without her shoulder armor on. though. The past couple of days, Zelda had left them in her tent since it was impractical to clear rubble with them weighing her down. Now however, she wished she had them on to at least make her appear tougher than she looked. Shoulder armour never failed to intimidate.

Cole's eyes landed on a spot few inches above her right eye. "Ah, you have a smudge just there your Highness." He pointed his own perfectly manicured finger at his forehead, eyes glittering in unmistakable glee at her unkempt state. Reaching down he tugged a snow white handkerchief decorated with gold thread from his coat pocket and offered it to Zelda with a false sense of chivalry. Zelda declined it as politely as she could through gritted teeth- she refused to wipe her forehead with him watching. Cole stuffed his handkerchief back into his pocket with the long suffering sigh of one dealing with a stubborn child. Zelda surmised that this was a deliberate showing of wealth and power on Cole's part. He knew as well as Zelda did that a good tactic for gaining authority was to look the part. Zelda wished the whole table would collapse out from under him and mess up his perfectly manicured image.

"Really your Highness, this has gone on long enough, "Cole began "Let me arrange for you to be taken to Kakariko Village. If you'd like to play in the dirt at least do it where you can not be hurt." Cole paused, smirking at his own cleverness. "As I mentioned before, it is our top most priority to see you safely out of danger."

Zelda, resisting the urge to scrub at the dirt on her forehead, decided to strive for diplomacy and took a deep breath in to calm herself. She regretted it instantly as Cole's foul cologne made her nose burn once more.

"You are mistaken, Chancellor," Zelda countered in a choked voice "Our top most priority is clearing Castletown of rubble so that my subjects can rebuild their homes and continue with their lives."

Cole raised one hand from the table and tutted. "A woman's place is not out here getting blisters on her hands." He glanced pointedly at Zelda's stained gloves and the fingertip peeking through on her right hand. "It's simply not a safe place for any woman, especially someone as important as you. Surely you know that during your _absence-"_ he faked a cough " _-_ the Castle was taken over by Ganondorf's dark forces. Since then, monsters have multiplied by the hundreds. Even now, Skulltulas are nesting in the ruins of Castletown, and at night Stalhounds stalk the edges of your encampment."

Suddenly, a knife thunked down on a curling edge of paper not far from the chancellor's hand. Cole pulled his gloves from the now smudged Castletown plans with unprecedented speed and leaned away.

Zelda looked up quickly at who had thrown the knife. Ashei stood to the side of the table cleaning the dirt out from under her fingernails with another knife. Her hands were sure of their work even though her dark eyes bored into the chancellor.

"We can handle monsters."

"Ah, Ashei... How nice to see you safely returned to us from the wreckage." Cole gave her an oily smile. "Maybe you can help me talk to Her Highness about perhaps moving to Kakariko Village? For her safety of course. The people need their _Princess_."

Ashei remained silent and continued to stare at the now shifting Cole as if she were eyeing a skulltula.

Zelda tried not to smile at the Chancellor's discomfort. She put on a serene face. "It seems, Chancellor, that some women don't need to be protected nearly as much as some men do."

Cole's eyes narrowed as he gave the women a patronizing smile. If Zelda hadn't been watching closely, she would've missed the malice quickly hidden just behind his stare. "Right you are, right you are. Well, I see you ladies have some gossiping to catch up on, so I'll just go see if any more men have arrived. Don't worry ladies, soon we'll have enough men to have you safe and out of the way in Kakariko Village."

Ashei waited until he was out of earshot before she re-sheathed her knife. She glanced sideways at the Princess and gave voice to the same thought that had been in Zelda's head: "Why couldn't the castle have fallen on him, yeah?"

Zelda felt her lips quirk of their own will even as she reached up to pinch the bridge of her nose to release the tension that had built there. "He arrived two days ago, from wherever he had sequestered himself these past couple of months. He has been sowing deceit against me whenever he hasn't been pestering me to remove myself from 'danger.'"

"So he can step in and oh so graciously help out with ruling in your stead?" asked Ashei. "He arrived just as Link departed to the Gorons, yeah? Sounds convenient." Ashei paused to gaze down the field at the retreating back of the Chancellor. "He needs to be watched."

Ashei raised her eyebrows as Zelda slapped her stained gloves on top of the table and began to rub at her forehead with her hand. "I know that. But who can we spare, who can we _trust_ to do that? All of our efforts are allocated toward the clearing out and rebuilding of Castletown. Chancellor Cole knows this. Even if we did have him watched, he's too shrewd." Zelda allowed herself a small sigh. "Just as one war has ended, another begins."

"And it's only been two weeks." Ashei, blunt as ever, did not pull any punches. "We won the last one, and we'll win this one too. He can't be as bad as Ganondorf, though they both have the same lovely shade of hair." She flicked her own dark braid behind her shoulder with a grin, but her words felt flat.

Zelda's smile froze on her face as she thought back on the decisive battle. Had it only been two weeks ago when Link had driven his sword through Ganondorf's chest? It was the first time she had seen what a man's face had looked like after a killing blow. It was glorious, it was grotesque. And the sound-

Mistaking her expression, Ashei apologized. "Sorry, put my foot in it again, yeah? Too soon?" Ashei's question pulled Zelda back from her thoughts.

"No," Zelda smiled sadly at her, "it was far too late."

Comprehension flashed across the older girl's face and she gave a grim smile in return. "You know what my dad always said? It doesn't matter how long it takes, as long as it gets done."

 _Or who gets it done._ Zelda added in her head. She shook off the twinge of jealousy she felt and nodded at her friend. Turning to look back down at the layout of the town laid out on the map before her, she allowed herself to think about the possibilities. It was a daunting task, but an exciting one as well. She had her chance to make Castletown better. To make her contribution to Hyrule just as Link had done. Zelda swallowed past the lump of bitterness in her throat and tried to refocus on the task at hand.

At that exact moment though, a yell came from the direction of the town. Zelda and Ashei, startled, looked up at the same time to see a burly man running flamboyantly towards them. From the two tufts of spiky brown hair, Zelda placed him as Bremor, one of Mutoh's carpentry apprentices. She had trouble telling all of them apart, and relied on their hair in order to figure out who was who.

"Princess Zeldaaa!" Bremor yelled as he charged towards them. Zelda and Ashei briefly exchanged a concerned look and hurried out to meet him.

Ashei was the first to reach him, and crouched beside him as he bent over and caught his breath. "What's wrong Bremor?"

"Boss… Found something... Under ruins… Might be… Dangerous…" Bremor wheezed between lungfuls of air.

"Is it a monster?" Zelda asked as she placed her hand on Bremor's sweaty back and sent a pulse of traceless magic out to check for injuries. He appeared to be fine, save for his current state of breathlessness.

Bremor, having regained enough breath to continue, stood up and wiped the sweat from his brow. "Not a monster, Your highness. At least, I don't think it's one. It's a stone. It has strange markings on it. Almost like," Bremor paused before continuing further, looking as if he didn't want to say something foolish.

"Yes?" Zelda touched his elbow softly to encourage him.

He scratched his ear sheepishly, and looked down at the ground. "Boss laughed and said it was ridiculous, but I thought the markings looked a lot like like the marks on the shadow beasts."

Ashei and Zelda shared identical looks of alarm. Yelling a quick "Thank you!" over her shoulder, the princess and Ashei took off in the direction of Castletown.

Upon entering the town, they heard the group of workers before they saw them. They dashed towards the commotion, heated and panicked replies of "We told him not to touch it!" and "Old fool!" flying through the air; drawing closer, the quieter mutterings of "We shouldn't have come back" and "We should have stayed in Kakariko..." simmered just beneath the louder proclamations.

Turning the corner, Zelda and Ashei came face to face with what could be called controlled chaos. Men gesticulated wildly with their arms, faces flushed with rage that was intended to hide how fearful they felt. Those who weren't debating madly were slumped against the dirty stone walls, faces ashen and tools hanging limp from their hands. Zelda could see Telma and Rusl doing their best to calm the others, but one could tell at a glance that it wasn't going very far.

Auru, who had been arguing with Chancellor Cole, caught sight of Zelda the moment she appeared. Failing to get her attention over the crowd, Auru cupped his hands to his mouth and let out a bellow that that quieted them all, making the loudest amongst the group slowly go silent with astonishment.

The older man cleared his throat and nodded towards Zelda. "Show some respect for her Highness."

As one, the group of workers turned their faces towards the Princess and quickly formed a clear path leading towards Auru and Cole.

"I'm going to go check in with Rusl and Telma." Ashei whispered in parting.

Zelda gave the dark haired girl a quick nod before she slipped through the crowd. Embarrassed apologies and bowed heads trailed in her wake. Thankful for the second time today that she was wearing her crown, she made her way forward towards the two men but stopped short upon catching sight of a slight luminescent shape just behind Chancellor Cole's shoulder. A spirit?

Cole, catching her line of sight threw an agitated glance over his shoulder. Seeing nothing, he eyed her in a strange manner before addressing her: "Your Highness, perfect timing as always. Do watch your step on this rubble dear. Terribly upsetting what has just occurred here, terribly upsetting. This is just the kind of thing you shouldn't hav-"

"What happened here?" Zelda interrupted Cole briskly and directed her attention to Auru.

Auru gestured towards the ground. "This object your Highness. Mutoh was convinced we had called you out here because of a silly fear. To prove to us all that we were a bunch of cowards that should go back to work he reached down to touch it- and disappeared."

Startled, Zelda glanced once more at the glowing shape floating behind the Chancellor- Mutoh had been turned into a spirit! Due to the Triforce of Wisdom, she was able to see him, while to everyone else it had looked like he vanished. She bent forward to get a closer look at the stone on the ground.

"No! Your Highness!" Auru exclaimed as she held her hand out towards the jagged black crystal on the ground.

"It's alright, Auru; my Triforce protects me." Zelda replied gently. As if to emphasize her point, the triangle on her right hand began to emanate a golden glow as she picked up the black crystal. Auru let out a relieved whoosh of breath when her form did not disappear. A murmur went up from the crowd as they saw her handling the dark object.

It felt familiar. If she wasn't mistaken, it was the same presence she had sensed in Link that fateful day he had brought Midna to her. Holding the stone in her hand a memory came to her. She had held it before, but no, that wasn't right, it had been Midna who held it. In her minds eye she saw Midna's impish hand as if it were her own levitating the crystal on the tip of her turquoise finger.

" _This thing is too dangerous... It's probably for the best if we just leave it here, huh? But on the other hand...if we kept it, you'd be able to transform into a beast anytime you wanted…"_

So this was the crystal that had forced Link to change into his wolf form permanently. Midna was right, it was dangerous. But useful too. Definitely not something that should fall into the hands of Cole. Decided, Zelda closed her hand around the crystal and put it into the pocket of her borrowed pants.

"Does this evil stone belong to you, Your Highness?" Chancellor Cole's beady eyes were speculative when she met his gaze.

"In a manner of speaking, Chancellor, yes. It does." She replied calmly. Zelda raised her hand to cut off his forthcoming reply. "But before I answer anymore questions, I must attend to Mutoh. If you could just stand to the side, please."

The Chancellor looked momentarily confused but moved out of the way as she requested.

Seeing as the crystal wasn't embedded into Mutoh, Zelda was hopeful that she could restore him with the power of light. Bowing her head, she murmured a prayer to the spirits of Light then reached out her hands to touch Mutoh's formless spirit.

All at once, a blinding flash of light blazed up, and the crowd yelled out in surprise. When it had receded, a shaken Mutoh was once again in the physical realm. His normally swarthy complexion was now an unflattering shade of white, and his arm shook profusely under Zelda's hand.

Taking a shuffling step forward he raised his arm, finger shaking, as it pointed in a gesture of defiance.

"I- I- told you fools it was ok." He said gruffly.

Then his eyes rolled back into his head and he promptly collapsed.

* * *

 **A/N and Disclaimer:**

 **Story tidbits-**

Mutoh and Bremor are some of the carpenters in OoT, and Majora's Mask. Mutoh also appears in Minish Cap. You can even actually see the guy that always carries the big beam of wood over his shoulder running through CastleTown when you play Twilight Princess. Chancellor Cole, of course, appears in Spirit Tracks. He's a little taller in my fic for ~drama~.

I thought it would be funny to have Mutoh scoff at the stone as not working, like he scoffed at the moon in MM. XD

Look forward to more LoZ cameos in up coming chapters too.

Sorry, to the people that wanted to see me describe the fight scene, I had planned to do it but my brain went "NOPE."

If you're interested, check in my profile for a link to my tumblr page, where I post story tidbits and teasers for the next chapters.

Thank you for reading! Next chapter will hopefully be up in a week and half or so.

I do not own The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.


	3. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Hot, humid air rushed past Link's face as Epona thundered across the grassy plains of Hyrule field, her hooves kicking dust on the well worn dirt path heading eastward toward Kakariko Village.

Link eyed the sky with unease. The sun had just risen above the treetops and was a glowing pink ball in the sky. The clouds lay across the sky like a red rumpled blanket, the early morning sun staining them crimson. A saying from his youth floated through his head.

 _Red sky at morning, Din bades you take warning._

Already, he could feel the heaviness in the air that signaled a storm to come. Link grimaced and urged Epona faster. He hated being in the rain Before the Twilight had come, he had always felt that rain was a blessing, but then, he had a house to hide out in until it passed. Becoming the twilight beast of legend had changed all that. Places to hide from the rain were few and far in between and the smell of wet dog always seemed to follow him even in human form.

The grass that flew by on either sides of Epona was slowly giving way to red patches of desert and dry scrub bushes over the last hour; it wouldn't be long until he entered the desert mountain pass that would wind him towards Kakariko Gorge. If all went well he would be in Kakariko Village this afternoon.

The sky continued to darken, thunder rumbling warnings occasionally. The first drop of water pelted into Link's face was followed quickly by its brothers and sisters. In seconds he was soaked. Link hunkered down low over his saddle and slowed Epona to a trot. There was no point in out running the weather now. Besides that, if Link sprained Epona's ankle he would have Ilia tearing into him. That was almost worse than the rain. Lightning snaked across the sky making shadows jump into being. Out of habit he glanced at his own looking for traces of Midna, only to be reminded again that she was gone. Link clenched his teeth against the memories that pelted against him with every drop of rain. It had been another storm like this. Link turned his gaze determinedly forward and hunched his shoulders in grudging acceptance of the wet menace and the memories it brought with it.

Almost a year ago when a drenched Link and the dying Midna had arrived to ask Princess Zelda for help, they had found her room abandoned save for the glowing light of her spirit shifting in the room. Sensing her spirit in his wolf form Link and Midna had been able to listen to Zelda's explanation of what had happened. With Zant growing more powerful, Zelda had hidden her body away in the castle and warded it magically so as to expend as much power as possible to keep Castle Town and the Triforce of Wisdom from falling into the hands of evil. After Zelda instructed Link to find the Master Sword, Midna had asked a question that sealed not just her fate but the fate of Castle Town.

" _Can you tell him where to find the Mirror of Twilight?"_

This one sentence had set into motion a decision that Link often wondered the wisdom of. With that one question Midna revealed just who she was to the Princess. And Zelda had risked the whole of Hyrule in an insane bet where she had transferred her spirit into Midna and healed her. Midna had understood before Link the implications and risks of the decision the Princess had made and screamed for him to stop the her. But before anyone could do anything Zelda's spirit had vanished into Midna and with it her power protecting Castle Town.

Almost immediately, a thick twilight descended over structure of Hyrule Castle and the town below it. Hordes of monsters, the likes of which had never been seen before, and shadow beasts had poured out of the castle to set ruin to the town within it. Most of the royal guards had run away at the first sign of monsters, leaving the few loyal soldiers and the residents of Castle Town to defend themselves against an attack no one had expected. It was a massacre. Link, unable to fight the monsters well in his forced wolf state had focused on trying get people to safety. A plan that had quickly devolved into scaring people into safety, as they had seen him and Midna as monsters also.

Men, women, children, animals, it didn't matter, none were spared. The monsters attacked anyone in their way, leaving the wounded for the shadow beasts to turn into more shadow beasts. Those who had escaped thanks to the efforts of Link and the Resistance, had run to the river outside the castle with what few belongings they had managed to grab. There they stood in the flow of the water, their belongings held over of their heads and watched as everything they had known was destroyed. The casualties were immense.

Another lightning strike struck somewhere close enough to jerk Link from his thoughts. The strike had illuminated jagged cliffs of bare red earth that towered ahead. Through the haze of rain, the unmistakable outcroppings of reddish boulders of Kakariko Gorge came into view. "Probably only an hour away from the village now." Link muttered to Epona. Her ears flicked back at his voice in what seemed like acknowledgement. They were almost to the bridge when Epona stopped in her tracks and tossed her head. Up ahead, barely visible through the rain, a figure crouched under one of the great overhangs of the massive red boulders.

Could it be a bokoblin? _Easy enough to deal with if I need too._ Link gripped the hilt of the master sword and spurred Epona onwards. As they grew closer it became easier to make out that the figure crouched under the overhang was not a bokoblin, but that of a lanky man rifling through the contents of a large bag and removing some of the items out onto a ragged blanket. The man, so immersed in his task, didn't notice Link and Epona until they were practically under the overhang.

Upon noticing them the man let out a startled yelp and positioned himself in a way to cover up what he had been doing.

"Sorry to startle you, I was hoping to share your space for a little while." Link said jumping down from Epona, his boots squishing wetly in the red earth.

"Oh! Um, of course!" The man replied smiling nervously and shifted his eyes quickly to the blanket behind him. "You trying to escape the rain too?" He flapped his hands as if uncertain of what to do with them.

Link, in the midst of wringing out his hat looked up as if to say, ' _How did you guess?'_

The man continued on abashed, "Well I mean, of course you are, who wouldn't be?"

Link, walking further under the overhang noticed the man kept moving his body to always be in between himself and what he had been placing on the blanket a couple of moments before. Bombs. Catching Link looking behind him, the man smiled hastily. "Oh this? I'm not doing anything suspicious… Really. I had to lay these out or otherwise they'd be ruined. Can't let the fuses get wet. I really must get myself a bomb bag." He laughed sheepishly while scratching at his bald head. "I'm a merchant of sorts you see. I was afraid you were a thief. There have been rumors going around that one is on the loose."

The man flashed another wide smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "I'm Sakon by the way."

It seemed plausible enough, but the strange man's explanation still did not make Link trust him immediately either. He considered Sakon's out of place smile before extending his arm out for a handshake. "Link."

Sakon's smile stumbled at the introduction, and his eyes darted up to Link's face analyzing it with new interest. "Link? As in Link of Ordonia? The Link who defeated the Twilight?"

Link scratched the back of his head in a silent expression of awkward agreement. Sakon had a way of stating the obvious so badly that it was amusing.

"This _is_ an honor," Sakon said hesitantly. "Imagine my luck, meeting you out of the blue like this! You must draw a crowd wherever you go." Sakon, hesitation forgotten, practically bounced on his toes. "When they said you wore all green they weren't kidding were they?" He craned his head to the side to get a better look of the hat in Link's hand. "And what's with that hat?" He muttered under his breath. "Well, you aren't at the height of style, but give it a year and I'm sure hats like that will be in." Sakon shot a quick self-satisfied grin up at Link."You'll have to forgive me, my mercantile senses are clamoring at me."

Link wasn't sure if this was how Sakon normally conversed of if the other man simply spoke things as they came to his mind. He didn't want to be rude and interrupt Sakon, but he had a feeling the other man might not even notice. Fortunately, for Link that was the case; and as Sakon paused for a breath to continue his sentence Link managed to jump into conversation. "Uh, sorry to interrupt but I've missed breakfast, and need to eat something."

Sakon apologized profusely for talking so much and watched with barely disguised interest as Link went to Epona to pull out a block of cheese and stale loaf of bread from a saddle bag.

"Could that be Ordonian Goat cheese I see?" Link, his mouth full of the cheese in question, nodded. "Would you like some?" he spoke around the food in his mouth.

"Just a pinch or two." Sakon said, his eyes gleaming with prospect. He reached out for the piece that Link handed him and popped it into his mouth. His eyes closed happily in bliss at the taste. "Do you have any more? I could sell this for a good sum." Link shook his head and offered Sakon another piece of cheese this one a bit larger than the last. The other man readily took it and spent a bit more time chewing this one.

Link was glad for the silence that followed however short it was. Already, he could see the other man's eyes fixing on the next object of interest.

"Is that- could that really be?" he pointed to the sword sheathed on Link's back.

"The Master Sword," Sakon breathed in awe. "Evil's Bane. That sword hasn't been seen in hundreds of years." He seemed shaken, and his smile wilted at the edges a little.

"Then it really is true. You really are the chosen hero. At first, I admit, I doubted. A farm boy from Ordonia?" He scoffed. "Nothing good comes out of Ordonia except for pumpkins and goat cheese." He held up the remaining chunk of cheese in his hand and popped it into his mouth. "No offence, no offence!" Sakon raised his hands in submission at Link's raised eyebrow. "Honestly though, can you blame me for questioning you? Ordon isn't even really a part of Hyrule proper! You'd think the Chosen Hero would actually be from Hyrule and not some small backwater province. But if you have the master sword, there's no refuting it." Sakon's eyes narrowed as he processed his next thought and he gave an unfriendly smile. "Unless you stole it from the real hero?"

"Do you honestly think that the master sword could be stolen from the Goddess's Chosen Hero?" Link's voice was relaxed and soft as he asked his question, but underneath it held the strength of steel and his eyes flashed in challenge.

"Sorry, Sorry," Sakon was quick to resume his strangely happy demeanor and held his hands up in friendly surrender. "One can't be too careful these days, you never know who is lying." He leaned forward and lowered his voice even though there was no one to overhear except for Epona. "Especially with the unrest about the Princess."

Link's eyebrows rose at Sakon's last statement and wanted to ask what Sakon meant, but the other man went on as if he hadn't said anything strange. "Well anyway, let us toast to your victory against the Twilight, Hero Link!" Sakon clapped his hands in anticipation and rose to go rummage in his sack. Link heard the sound of clinking and Sakon's muttered "Now where is it?" His bald head whipped up and out of the sack in victory."Ah-ha!" In his hand was a bottle containing a light pink liquid. "Special reserve Goron Quartz Wine! A strong drink for a strong man!"

Links eyebrows drew together as he studied the bottle. He had never heard of the Gorons making wine.

Noticing his hesitation Sakon gave the bottle a little shake. "This is a once and a lifetime opportunity my friend! The Goron's don't just give this wine out to anyone you know." He smiled slyly, "I'm going to make a killing selling it in Castle Town."

The sound of the rain slackening off caught Link's attention, and he glanced up at the sky from under the red stone outcropping. The steely gray clouds rumbled off in the distance heading westward towards Hyrule Field. "Thanks, but maybe next time," he stood and dusted the crumbs clinging to his damp clothes. "I'm actually headed to go see the Goron chief myself, so maybe I'll have a chance to taste some then. Besides, I might not be able to stay in the saddle if it's as strong as you say."

"Yes, that would be a shame." Sakon gave Link a disappointed smile and turned to place the bottle back into his big sack. Link had a gut feeling that Sakon was disappointed for another reason entirely.

"They might be a little indisposed when you find them. The smiling man scratched behind his head sheepishly. "There's no party quite like a Goron party as I'm sure you know. They've been shaking the ground for days what with all the rolling down Death Mountain they've been doing."

"I'll keep that in mind." Link said as he pulled himself up onto Epona's saddle. Giving a nod of farewell to the strange smiling merchant he rode off into the drizzle of rain towards Kakariko Village.

…::.::...

 **A/N : The Legend of Zelda does not belong to me.**

 **This chapter is dedicated to Chameleon Eyes who reminded me to get back on it. ;3**

 **I'm sorry this update has been so long in coming. I've moved 3 times within the past 6 months so things have been very crazy for me.**

 **If this chapter seems rougher than the others that's because it is lol. All my beta readers had life happen so it has not been beta'd.**

 **I apologize if it seemed lacking. However, I knew I could spend forever editing on it, so when it came down to it, I'd rather post something roughly polished than spend forever polishing and never post.**

 **Thank you for reading, and an extra special thank you if you read through my authors note.**


End file.
